Free Republic

CHEYENNE — Nearly 120 commercial truck drivers have been caught and turned over to federal authorities in the five months the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office has been running its Truck Around and Find Out enforcement, including 46 during its latest operation last week. Truck Around is not just about commercial drivers or catching illegal immigrants, said Sheriff Brian Kozak about the focused traffic missions, which usually last three days. “We like to say anyone who’s driving unsafe around trucks or truck drivers who are unsafe,” he said. “We’re looking out for the legal truck drivers who are doing it right....

Jade Simon, a professor at Laramie County Community College, was a critical part of a paleontologist team that discovered a new species of meat-eating dinosaur that’s best described as a giant 170-pound chicken from hell. A new prehistoric avian dinosaur, similar to this one, has been discovered. A Wyoming paleontologist helped verify it. (Cowboy State Daily Illustration) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When paleontologists found a drumstick from what can best be described as a 68-million-year-old chicken from hell, they needed expert on prehistoric hell chickens to confirm it as a new species. And they found her in Wyoming at Laramie County Community College....

Indecent liberties case brings sentence By Juliette Rule rep9@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - A man accused of taking indecent liberties with his children will serve six years of probation, a Laramie County District Court judge ruled Thursday. Daniel Fresquez, 37, was accused in August of showing his children, ages 10 and 11, pornographic films. He also was accused of fondling the girl and making the boy touch his mother inappropriately while she lay in bed. Fresquez's wife, Valerie Fresquez, also was charged with those crimes. Those charges were dismissed in December. Fresquez pleaded guilty to two charges...

East High forms Gay/Straight Alliance club By Becky Orr rep6@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - A new Gay/Straight Alliance established at Cheyenne's East High met for the first time Friday at the school. The organization is the first of its kind in Laramie County School District 1. Thirty-three people attended the organizational meeting - 30 of them students and the rest employees - said Donna Lucas, a group faculty sponsor. She is a student assistance counselor at East High who works through the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program. Phil Newland, the other sponsor, was out of town on...

Lawmakers address low pay in education By Jessica Lowell rep5@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - The employment picture for K-12 teachers and school staff across the state is equally dismal. In Natrona County, teachers are being aggressively recruited by out-of-state districts with the promise of dramatically higher salaries. In Laramie County, school bus drivers with 30 years of experience make less than $15 an hour; some have filed for bankruptcy protection because they can't make ends meet. In Teton County, teachers routinely work second jobs to earn enough money to pay their bills. In Weston County, teachers have...